Woman held in Westville murder

WESTVILLE Lori Hummel plunged a sharp instrument into the
neck of a male acquaintance, grabbed several gift cards from
his apartment and headed off to shop.

That's the scenario laid out by the Gloucester County
prosecutor in announcing Friday's arrest of Hummel, 39,
in the murder of Thomas Carbin.

Hummel, of Ridgeway Avenue in Gloucester City, is charged
with felony murder, armed robbery, possession of a weapon
for an unlawful purpose, and unlawful possession of a
weapon. She was in custody Friday evening and is expected to
be transferred to a women's correctional facility in
either Camden or Mannington Township in lieu of $750,000
cash bail.

The former West Deptford Township resident and West Deptford
High School graduate is accused of killing the 54-year-old
Carbin, a burly unemployed ironworker, sometime late Sunday
or early Monday inside his apartment on River Drive above
the Tower Tavern.

Investigators determined that Hummel was an acquaintance of
Carbin's who visited him Sunday night and stayed over
until the early hours of Monday.

"Sometime in the early morning hours Monday, she
inflicted serious injuries to Mr. Carbin's neck with a
sharp instrument, causing his death," Prosecutor Sean
F. Dalton said during a news conference here.

Hummel grabbed gift cards, an unspecified amount of cash and
some of Carbin's personal belongings before fleeing.

Hummel is believed to have driven away from the apartment in
Carbin's 2006 Chevrolet Colorado pickup truck Ð a
vehicle found abandoned at the gate of the Ironworkers Union
Local 399 hall on Crown Point Road, a half-mile from the
apartment.

Monday morning, "she was seen shopping at a local
store," Dalton said.

She was caught on store surveillance tapes, the prosecutor
said, declining to disclose the business.

Hummel was arrested late Friday morning at a friend's
house, authorities said.

Carbin typically left the door to his apartment unlocked, a niece, Kristin Fisher said earlier. On Sunday, a friend of Carbin's walked upstairs from the tavern and found the door locked....